The four incoming freshmen of Stetson's men's basketball team have already completed an entire semester of academic work at the university. Tanner Plemmons (Franklin, NC), Brian Pegg (Clearwater, FL), Logan Irwin (South Whitley, IN), and Leke Solanke (Abeokuta, Nigeria) reported to campus on June 10 to begin the school's second summer session in preparation of their first season with the Hatters.

"It's been awesome to have these four guys at Stetson for the second session of summer school," Head Coach Casey Alexander said. "They will be the face of our program sooner or later, so it's great to see them get off to such a great start. We couldn't be more excited about what they bring to the table."

Each one of the four newcomers may bring different things to said table, but right now, they're doing everything together. "Logan's my roommate, and the other two share a bathroom with us, so we're all together all the time," Plemmons said before one of foursome's final workouts before heading home for the rest of the summer.

"We go to workouts together, all our classes are together, and anywhere we go, we all go together," Plemmons continued. "It's been a good bonding experience that we'll be able to bring back with us in the fall."

It hasn't been all bonding for the young Hatters. With a condensed summer academic session, they have had to hit the books hard this June. "We're learning all of the stuff in three weeks that is supposed to be learned in an entire semester," Irwin said.

"There's a lot of reading," Irwin added. "You have to do a lot more studying, and work a lot harder in the classroom, than in high school." Luckily the four newcomers have each other. "All four of us do a great job of keeping each other focused and pulling one another up," Solanke said.

In conjunction with that heavy dose of school work, there has also been plenty of basketball. The freshmen have spent time in the weight room and on the court in preparation of their first season at Stetson.

"Right now, we're all learning the basics of offense and defense," Irwin said. "The coaches are just trying to get us comfortable with what we do, so in the fall we should be able to dive right in."

"This summer has really helped because we'll now have more of an idea of what to expect when we return this fall," Pegg added. Having an older brother on the Hatter squad will most likely help this freshman as well.

"[Adam] has helped me out a lot, telling me what to expect and how to manage everything. I'm not a super organized person, so he's given me a lot of advice on how I should go about doing things. I'm definitely excited to play a year with my brother."

The work in the weight room has already made an impact on these four. "Being able to keep our strength and conditioning up will help us a lot," Plemmons said. "Because being at the next level you have to be bigger, stronger, and faster than what you were in high school."

"Our staff put a lot of effort into this class, and the culmination of that work is rewarded when they show up on campus with their cars full of stuff," Alexander concluded. Now that these freshmen have begun to adjust to college life this summer, Plemmons, Irwin, Pegg, and Solanke will return with the rest of the team in August, just before school starts back up.